Ty Gibbs passed Ryan Sieg just after taking the white flag and raced unchallenged to take the checkered flag and win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
While Sieg finished 10th, Gibbs captured his second win of the season after leading only the last lap of the race. The victory came in the second overtime attempt of the night.
The Joe Gibbs racing driver was followed by Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst and Landon Cassill.
“What the heck? Oh my gosh. I did not expect this at all,” Gibbs told Fox Sports 1. “I learned a big lesson, just never give up.”
Both NASCAR races held Saturday, including the Truck Series race won by Corey Heim, were won with last-lap passes.
“You get too far out there and then you try to block all their runs, but I went to the outside to block his run and he crossed over,” Sieg said. “There was nothing I could do. You’re pretty much a sitting duck when you’re out front leading like that. You’re just hoping you can block good enough.”
Click here for the race results.
Cassill’s result was his first top-five finish in the Xfinity Series since the 2011 opener at Daytona International Speedway.
The top 10 was completed by Mason Massey (first career top-10 finish in NASCAR), Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Sheldon Creed and Sieg.
The final overtime restart was a result of a multi-car incident in Turns 1-2 involving Tommy Joe Martins, Matt Mills, Jesse Iwuiji, Myatt Snider and Stefon Parsons.
That produced the race’s 10th caution, which tied the track record.
The first overtime attempt was created by an accident with three laps to go in the scheduled distance. Myatt Snider, who restarted on the inside of the front row, attempted to block a pass by Herbst, but was turned around as a result.
Before the restart, Snider’s No. 31 car was producing a shower of sparks from dragging something on the track.
Before that, the run to the finish was set up by The Big One: a 10-car wreck on the backstretch with 10 laps to go. It involved all of the JR Motorsports cars, Sage Karam, Trevor Bayne, Alex Labbe and others.
Pole-sitter Noah Gragson kept the lead on the initial restart and led every lap until the competition caution on lap 20.
The only leaders who chose that caution period to pit were Kaulig Racing teammates Allmendinger and Daniel Hemric.
Though Gragson would receive a challenge from Jones with about seven laps left in the stage, the JR Motorsports driver managed to hang on until the very last lap.
That’s when Gragson’s teammate, Josh Berry, swooped in on the inside exiting Turn 4 and narrowly beat Gragson to the line.
Gragson told his team he didn’t know they were coming to the end of the stage.
JR Motorsports held the first four spots with Berry, Gragson, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer. Bayne complete the top five.
There were no cars off the lead lap after one stage.
Under the caution Austin Hill won the race off pit road, but Allmendinger, having pit earlier, stayed out.
Gragson restarted 21st and and Berry 15th.
On Lap 51, Gragson attempted a four-wide pass on the outside while running in 15th. He ran out of room and got into the wall. Two laps later he visited pit road for right-side tires and repairs.
At the same time, Riley Herbst went to pit road for overheating issues.
Allmendinger led to the end of stage for his first stage win of the year.
Allmendinger beat Hemric, Jade Buford, Tommy Joe Martins and Sage Karam.
On pit road, Creed was first off, beating Allmendinger, Hill and Jones.
Hemric was penalized for a choose rule violation, sending him to the back of the pack. As a result of the caution, Gragson received the free pass.
The race restarted with 75 laps to go as Creed kept the lead. He would lose it to Bayne with 64 laps to go. Two laps later, Snider took a brief turn at the point.
With 58 laps left, the first caution for an incident occurred due to a multi-car crash on the backstretch. It involved Buford and Jeremy Clements.
Under caution, drivers who pit included Gragson, Snider, Ryan Sieg and Hemric. All three Joe Gibbs Racing cars stayed out along with Hill and Creed.
The race resumed with 51 laps to go.
One lap couldn’t be completed before the race’s second wreck, this time a two-car wreck between Joe Graf Jr. and Hemric.
The race resumed with 41 laps to go with Bayne fighting Hill for the lead. The next caution came out with 34 laps to go for Sam Mayer spinning from a flat tire. The race returned to green with 30 laps to go.
Brandon Brown brought out the seventh caution with 25 laps to go when he spun from contact with Sheldon Creed.